5 Ingredient Substitutes for When You're Out of the Usual Kitchen Staples

Certain ingredients are considered "kitchen staples" because they appear on seemingly every recipe, regardless of the cuisine. But kitchen staples aren't always readily stocked in your pantry, ostensibly because they're so overused. Moreover, the lazy in you might not want to head outside simply to buy one ingredient. Fortunately, if you're in a bind, there are ways to improvise. Here are some substitutes for kitchen staples for the person who doesn't want to needlessly subject themselves to the supermarket.

1. When baking, use applesauce instead of butter, and mayonnaise instead of eggs.

Apple sauce is one of the oldest health hacks for those who want to make a healthier version of a baked dessert like cake. With that said, replacing butter with applesauce does affect the ideal texture of the resultant baked goods; if that is a concern, consider replacing only half of the recipe's fat with applesauce.

In the same vein, but sort of a cheat, you can use mayonnaise instead of eggs in a baked good — though the substitution's effectiveness is probably due to the fact mayonnaise is an emulsion of oil and eggs.

3. Instead of pasta, break open a few Cup-a-Noodles.

Technically speaking, pasta and cup-a-noodles ramen are both noodles. The main difference is that while you might not have purchased enough boxes of pasta, you're more than likely to have a partially opened case of Cup-a-Noodles buried somewhere in your pantry — just skip the flavor packet.

4. Instead of sour cream, scoop some greek yogurt.

If you're looking for something tart and cooling on your next platter of nachos, consider replacing sour cream with greek yogurt, which has the added benefits of more protein, vitamin B-12 and probiotics.